A Necessary Lesson for Dems

A new book by historian James Oakes comes just in time. Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865 brings us an important new interpretation for the crucial events of our American Civil War. Focusing less on the battles of that most deadly of conflicts, this book goes behind the scenes to show what Congress was doing, what Union commanders in the field were doing, and what abolitionists and the slaves themselves were doing to bring about what Lincoln poetically called "this great consummation."
Democrats need this book. MSNBC recently apologized for calling the late Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace a Republican. It's an understandable mistake on their part. They are so used to the Democratic talking points -- Democrats for civil rights, good. Republicans stand in the schoolhouse door, bad. Except that the only ones who ever stood in any doors to deny civil rights to black Americans were Democrats.
No one should minimize the great role of President...(Read Full Article)